By James FitzPatrick
Contributing Writer
Within the span of less than two weeks, two sharks have made headlines locally, including one that bit a 15-old-old surfer.
On May 21, Maggie Drozdowski was bitten on her foot and leg by a shark while surfing in Stone Harbor off of 109th Street Beach. The Chester County, Pa. resident was surfing with her friend, Sarah O’Donnell, when she was attacked, according to CBS Philadelphia.
Drozdowski said at first she thought it might be a crab when she felt something pulling on her leg and pinching her foot. But it was bigger than a crab.
“My whole foot was in its mouth,” she told Good Morning America. “I was shaking my foot as hard as I could.”
O’Donnell said Drozdowski was pulled under the water. She thought her friend was drowning until she came up again screaming that she had been bitten. The shark let go after five seconds.
Drozdowski will be OK, requiring stitches in her foot and leg. The Downingtown resident told 6ABC.
The other shark making headlines this week is a 523-pound, 10-foot great white shark nicknamed Penny whose electronic tracking beacon pinged off the coast of Ocean City Monday, May 29, roughly off of 17th Street.
The ocean conservation group OCEARCH tagged the shark last month off of Ocracoke, N.C. and is watching her journey north for the first time, according to a Twitter post that included the #FactsOverFear hashtag.
“Our Atlantic Ocean is returning to one of the world’s great wild oceans due to successful management,” OCEARCH founder Chris Fischer posted on Twitter.
Despite the obvious excitement about Penny, he also had words of caution.
“When entering the ocean, pay attention to your surroundings. Look for quiet areas to swim and if you see areas full of life, sit on the beach and watch until it passes.”
Ocean City officials believe there is no need for concern when it comes to the sharks, according to Doug Bergen, public information officer.
Bergen notes that great white sharks cover a lot of ocean.
“The shark tracker from OCEARCH (https://www.ocearch.org/tracker/) is pretty fascinating, and if you click on one of the sharks that has been tagged for a couple years (Breton or Mahone, for instance), you realize that great whites go pretty much wherever they want, whenever they want,” he told Shore Local News.
The tracker provides good clickbait for media and social media, but there’s no reason to believe that Penny or any other shark poses any particular threat to beach safety, he said.
“While there are plenty of sharks that live in and pass through New Jersey waters, shark-swimmer encounters such as the one in Stone Harbor are extremely rare.”
That statement is confirmed by data.
The Florida Museum of Natural History’s International Shark Attack File investigated 108 alleged shark-human interactions worldwide in 2022. ISAF confirmed 57 unprovoked shark bites on humans and 32 provoked bites. Since 1837, New Jersey has had 15 unprovoked shark attacks, according to the museum.
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA, you can make yourself less vulnerable by staying out of the water at dawn and dusk, when sharks are most active. You should also stay out of the water if you have any open wounds.
“If you see a shark swimming nearby, leave the water as quickly and quietly as you can. Then, inform your fellow beach-goers and the closest lifeguard.”
